TO DO:

• Take a break this weekend!  Many of you have shared with me some of the various difficult situations you have been navigating through recently. Quite frankly, many in our TRIBE have been getting beat up (from all sides) lately. In the moment, these times feel awful and want to be avoided at all costs.  However, my hope is that when reflecting back over time these experiences will be seen as opportunities to hone your leadership skills, sharpen your vision, and provide you with valuable personal and professional tools that can only be learned through the trials of life. I am proud to have the opportunity to work with you.

THIS AND THAT:

• This could be considered a “reminder”… but also an update, so I’ll communicate it here.  As you are all aware, you may begin interviewing for any of your posted positions as soon as Tuesday, May 30.  Please communicate with each candidate that you are not sure of the timeline for hiring – or even if all of your current openings will be filled.  Feel free to express that you are anxious to fill your openings as quickly as you can and will communicate with the candidate as soon as you are able to do so.  You may follow-up those interviews by calling reference checks on your top candidate(s) – but need to stop there.  Before you reach out to HR for approval to hire you will need a green light to do so from me (or Gary or Jay at the other levels). I am aware of the fact that some of you will be ready to offer a position to your top candidate as soon as Tuesday afternoon, so I will communicate with you just as soon as I am confident that you may move forward with hiring.  I likely will not have an updated timeline, however, until after our Cabinet meeting on June 5 at the earliest.  Let me know if you have any questions regarding this.
• This is a repeat that I shared in the April 7 TRIBE… but thought the timing was right to share it again:

An article found in “ideas.ted.com” spoke of the comparison between being a great leader and music.  One point the author, Jim Crupi, made a comment regarding his belief around “get[ting] the right players around you” – which is not a new concept for any of you I’m sure.  However, I thought the author’s personal story regarding his hiring practice was worth passing along as we come into, we hope, the hiring season: “When I used to hire people for my organization, I was always reviewing a pile of resumes. Of course, by the time the resumes got to me they were all good — everyone was equally qualified. So I always asked these final candidates just two questions. First: Tell me about your life. I wanted to hear people talk about who they were, and what formed them. The second question: Rank, in order of importance, the five most important things in your life. Some people would say money, faith, family, etc.; others faith, family, money, etc. Everybody had a different answer. But their stories and answers gave me a clue to their character. I really listened and watched their behavioral response. Once the interview was over and they left the room, I’d ask myself one question: If I’m in a boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and the boat is in trouble, who do I want in that boat with me? Those are the people I’d hire. They were the people who had the character I could count on when things got tough. Every organization has tough moments. You want people working with you whom you can count on when the tough moments come. I always chose character and attitude over skill, and that insured I always had the right people in the boat.”

REMINDERS:

• One more time… Here is the link to your tech inventory sites – https://sites.google.com/gapps.bend.k12.or.us/techgoalsbls/home that Skip shared with us at our Horizontal a few weeks ago.